Bling, bling. Christopher “B.G.” Dorsey’s rap career could begin and end with that phrase, and his impact on America (if not the world) would still be book-worthy. But B.G.’s impact didn’t start or end there—far from it. Rather, to truly trace B.G.’s career you have to first backtrack six years before the release of “Bling Bling” to his first brush with rap, the Baby Gangstaz, a duo composed of Dorsey, then 13, and Lil Wayne, then 11. (B.G. is an abbreviation of the name of his first group.) Then you have to attempt to quantify his influence on the Southern gangsta rap scene during an underground run that produced Chopper City (Cash Money, 1995); It’s All On U, Pt. 1 (Cash Money, 1996); and It’s All On U, Pt. 2 (Cash Money, 1997). His output during that run not only carried the still independent Cash Money Records through otherwise lean years, it helped shaped a generation of Southern rappers, including contemporaries Lil Wayne, T.I., and Young Jeezy.
True, the hits haven’t come as hard or fast for B.G. in the decade since “Bling Bling,” the iconic single off his fourth solo album Chopper City In the Ghetto (Cash Money/Universal, 1999), cemented itself both at the top of the charts and in the American-English lexicon. But the stretch has in no way diminished his legacy. Since striking out for self during the mass exodus from his longtime home, Cash Money Records, in 2001, B.G. has released a string of solid, if not spectacular, albums through his own Chopper City Records. Add his recent affiliation with T.I.’s Grand Hustle team to more and more talk that a long-rumored Hot Boys reunion may finally pan out, and there are promising signs that the New Orleans rapper with the damp, dark, and distinctive flow still has plenty more words to etch into the scene.
In late spring, VIBE caught up with the Chopper City CEO to talk beginnings and endings. This is what he had to say
VIBE: How you been?
B.G.: I’m good, I’m good. I can’t complain, I can’t complain. I’m up in the studio working on some things.
What are you working on right now?
Just working, working, you know what I’m saying. Just getting stuff off my mind, you know. I might write, and something will come in my head and I just come in and lay it. Doesn’t have to necessarily be for something. It might end up being for a soundtrack, might end up selling it…might end up putting it on a mixtape. Might end up...you know? I got so much; it’s like two, three, four hard drives full of music.
You’re doing a lot of touring right now, too, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been on the road a lot.
Let’s talk about the new album.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, my album coming out in July, this summer, this summer: Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood. It’s going to be my 11th solo album. Coming out on Atlantic.
Who did you work with on this project?
Man, I got into the studio with everybody. All the records can’t make the album but I got in the studio with [Mannie] Fresh, I got in the studio with KLC, Polow Da Don…let’s see, Scott Storch. Man, I got production from everybody you could think of. I just was trying different things, and I wanted to make it extra special. With this being my 11th album, I was like, what more can I talk about? What more can I say that they ain’t heard me say before? But then I was like, shiiiit, my life is a movie, so I’m going to give it to ’em how I’ve been giving it to ’em. But you know, you grow with time, and you see more, you do more. Every day is a new story.
Is T.I. still signed on to executive produce the album?
Yeah, he executive producing the album with me on Atlantic, ’cause at the time I signed with Atlantic, I had like three or four different offers on the table, but me and Tip already had a relationship, like that was my nigga, [he’s] still my nigga. And he was like, “Man, what’s it going to take for me to get you over here at Atlantic with me?” And you know, I told him and he made a phone call to Craig [Kallman, Chairman and CEO, Atlantic Records], and they flew me to New York, and we sat down, started negotiating and we came up with something that made both sides happy and then we went on ahead and did it. So I signed Chopper City to Atlantic, and T.I. executive produced the album with me and we ran with it.
And you’re also working on a Hot Boys reunion, correct?
Yeah, yeah, you can look forward to that coming real soon. Real, real, real soon. We tying up the loose ends of the paperwork right now, and hopefully we’ll have that out this year.
What can you tell me about that?
It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. [laughs]
So you’re excited about it?
Most definitely! Because you know, at one point in time, you couldn’t get me to talk about it. I wasn’t open for it, you know what I am saying? But as I grew and then I got older and as I started just understanding life in general, things happen, and things happen for a reason. You know, people go through things, family go through things, but they sit down, talk it over, be real about it, acknowledge their mistakes and move on.
Can you name five up-and-coming rappers that you are fucking with right now? Who do you listen to? What’s hot in B.G.’s deck right now?
What’s hot in my deck right now? Lemme see. What’s in my deck right now, you probably already know ’em. I listen to a lot of mixtapes, I listen to Young Jeezy. I listen to Lil Wayne. I listen to Rick Ross. I listen to T.I. I listen to a whole bunch of things, man. I listen to Soulja Slim, like I never take Soulja Slim out the deck.
Cool. What about producers?
Producers? Most definitely Mannie Fresh would be the first on my list. Let me see, who else? Cool & Dre have some heat. They be banging on some heat. They produced a record on my album featuring Wayne and Juvenile called “Ya Heard Me.” They hot producers.… Eyes and Ears, they some young up-and-coming producers that, man, sky’s the limit for them. They got some heat. You know, Swizz Beatz. Dre most definitely, even if he don’t never put out another record or never produce another record, he always be one of them producers that you just can’t get enough of.
You mentioned that you never really thought you’d grow up to be a rapper. How’s it treating you? Do you like your career?
I like it. I love it. I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s got its upsides and its downsides, pros and cons, but that’s just with anything you do. You have your bad days and you have your great days. Sometimes you wish you could have the fortune without the fame. You know what I’m saying? I know me, personally, like, I’m just so down-to-earth, to where I come from, like, I be wanting to do regular shit but being in the position and the situation that you in, to where you’re known like that, you can’t do it. It’s just certain things that I did when I was younger that I can’t do now because you know all eyes be on you.
What in particular?
Like traveling other places and just walking around the mall, walking through the French Quarter and shit. Being somewhere with your kids without all the extra “Ooh, let me take a picture or let me get an autograph,” you know what I’m saying? And just being normal, man.
True, the hits haven’t come as hard or fast for B.G. in the decade since “Bling Bling,” the iconic single off his fourth solo album Chopper City In the Ghetto (Cash Money/Universal, 1999), cemented itself both at the top of the charts and in the American-English lexicon. But the stretch has in no way diminished his legacy. Since striking out for self during the mass exodus from his longtime home, Cash Money Records, in 2001, B.G. has released a string of solid, if not spectacular, albums through his own Chopper City Records. Add his recent affiliation with T.I.’s Grand Hustle team to more and more talk that a long-rumored Hot Boys reunion may finally pan out, and there are promising signs that the New Orleans rapper with the damp, dark, and distinctive flow still has plenty more words to etch into the scene.
In late spring, VIBE caught up with the Chopper City CEO to talk beginnings and endings. This is what he had to say
VIBE: How you been?
B.G.: I’m good, I’m good. I can’t complain, I can’t complain. I’m up in the studio working on some things.
What are you working on right now?
Just working, working, you know what I’m saying. Just getting stuff off my mind, you know. I might write, and something will come in my head and I just come in and lay it. Doesn’t have to necessarily be for something. It might end up being for a soundtrack, might end up selling it…might end up putting it on a mixtape. Might end up...you know? I got so much; it’s like two, three, four hard drives full of music.
You’re doing a lot of touring right now, too, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Been on the road a lot.
Let’s talk about the new album.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, my album coming out in July, this summer, this summer: Too Hood 2 Be Hollywood. It’s going to be my 11th solo album. Coming out on Atlantic.
Who did you work with on this project?
Man, I got into the studio with everybody. All the records can’t make the album but I got in the studio with [Mannie] Fresh, I got in the studio with KLC, Polow Da Don…let’s see, Scott Storch. Man, I got production from everybody you could think of. I just was trying different things, and I wanted to make it extra special. With this being my 11th album, I was like, what more can I talk about? What more can I say that they ain’t heard me say before? But then I was like, shiiiit, my life is a movie, so I’m going to give it to ’em how I’ve been giving it to ’em. But you know, you grow with time, and you see more, you do more. Every day is a new story.
Is T.I. still signed on to executive produce the album?
Yeah, he executive producing the album with me on Atlantic, ’cause at the time I signed with Atlantic, I had like three or four different offers on the table, but me and Tip already had a relationship, like that was my nigga, [he’s] still my nigga. And he was like, “Man, what’s it going to take for me to get you over here at Atlantic with me?” And you know, I told him and he made a phone call to Craig [Kallman, Chairman and CEO, Atlantic Records], and they flew me to New York, and we sat down, started negotiating and we came up with something that made both sides happy and then we went on ahead and did it. So I signed Chopper City to Atlantic, and T.I. executive produced the album with me and we ran with it.
And you’re also working on a Hot Boys reunion, correct?
Yeah, yeah, you can look forward to that coming real soon. Real, real, real soon. We tying up the loose ends of the paperwork right now, and hopefully we’ll have that out this year.
What can you tell me about that?
It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. It’s going to be bigger than The Beatles. [laughs]
So you’re excited about it?
Most definitely! Because you know, at one point in time, you couldn’t get me to talk about it. I wasn’t open for it, you know what I am saying? But as I grew and then I got older and as I started just understanding life in general, things happen, and things happen for a reason. You know, people go through things, family go through things, but they sit down, talk it over, be real about it, acknowledge their mistakes and move on.
Can you name five up-and-coming rappers that you are fucking with right now? Who do you listen to? What’s hot in B.G.’s deck right now?
What’s hot in my deck right now? Lemme see. What’s in my deck right now, you probably already know ’em. I listen to a lot of mixtapes, I listen to Young Jeezy. I listen to Lil Wayne. I listen to Rick Ross. I listen to T.I. I listen to a whole bunch of things, man. I listen to Soulja Slim, like I never take Soulja Slim out the deck.
Cool. What about producers?
Producers? Most definitely Mannie Fresh would be the first on my list. Let me see, who else? Cool & Dre have some heat. They be banging on some heat. They produced a record on my album featuring Wayne and Juvenile called “Ya Heard Me.” They hot producers.… Eyes and Ears, they some young up-and-coming producers that, man, sky’s the limit for them. They got some heat. You know, Swizz Beatz. Dre most definitely, even if he don’t never put out another record or never produce another record, he always be one of them producers that you just can’t get enough of.
You mentioned that you never really thought you’d grow up to be a rapper. How’s it treating you? Do you like your career?
I like it. I love it. I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world, you know what I’m sayin’? It’s got its upsides and its downsides, pros and cons, but that’s just with anything you do. You have your bad days and you have your great days. Sometimes you wish you could have the fortune without the fame. You know what I’m saying? I know me, personally, like, I’m just so down-to-earth, to where I come from, like, I be wanting to do regular shit but being in the position and the situation that you in, to where you’re known like that, you can’t do it. It’s just certain things that I did when I was younger that I can’t do now because you know all eyes be on you.
What in particular?
Like traveling other places and just walking around the mall, walking through the French Quarter and shit. Being somewhere with your kids without all the extra “Ooh, let me take a picture or let me get an autograph,” you know what I’m saying? And just being normal, man.
